6 – Conversions – posting a video on a product or service can increase the odds of a customer buying that item by as much as 35%.

7 – Efficiency – video is easy to share

8 – SEO – All the major search engines have made video a key factor in the search algorithms. Posting several videos on your website can increase your search rankings.

9 – Emotional Benefits – When was the last time you got emotional reading a webpage? Video uses sight and sound to engage emotionally with your views via storytelling. Video can entertain & influence viewers that connect their hearts and their brains with your business.

10 – Social Media Sharing – More than 500 years worth of YouTube videos are watched daily on Facebook and more than 700 YouTube videos are shared on Twitter every minute.

Storytelling

Testimonials

Unscripted Interview / Documentary

Product Demonstration

Customer Support

Humor

Infotainment

Here are short excerpts from videos that Blue Sky Video has produced

Skinny Cow Dreamy Clusters – web spot

Girl 1 – Tell me again, why couldn’t we wait for Spring?

Girl 2 – Our New Year’s resolution was to learn how to play golf. There’s no better time to learn than when no one else is around.

Girl 3 – Do you even know how to play golf?

Girl 2 – No, but I’ve seen the Golf Channel

The girls tee off – the ball bounces near a tree, in the rough and in the water.

The girls are seen walking the green. Time passes.

Girl 3 – I could really use a break

Girl 2 – I’ve got some delicious Skinny Cow Dream Clusters in my bag.

The girls share the snacks

Girl 1 – This is just what I needed to get through this game

Girl 3 putts her ball into the hole. All 3 jump for joy.

The girls walk off the golf course.

Girl 2 – Wow that was fun. Let’s come back and play the second hole tomorrow.

This video was produced for the Skinny Cow website. It never appeared on television. So for those businesses that say that they can’t afford TV advertising, that can’t afford a $4 million ad on the Super Bowl, you can get more reach through a YouTube video. Also, it’s more meaningful, because it’s local and you’re reaching the audience that is looking for your message.

Another option are Testimonials

The Rolland Jewelers ad that we produced is a combination of a scripted voice over and unscripted testimonials.

You never want to script a testimonial. You don’t want to tell your client what to say about you. You want to keep it natural.

Excerpt from web spot

VO: Rolland’s Jewelers in downtown Libertyville is well know for it’s excellent customer service and experienced jewelry consultants.

Testimonial 1: I’ve been shopping at Rolland’s Jewelers for over 10 years and one of the reasons why I keep coming back is every time you come in you feel like you’re being helped by a close personal friend.

Testimonial 2: I can bring in any piece of any design and they can either customize it for me or repair it to my satisfaction.

VO: Rolland’s Jewelers, a family owned jeweler you can trust.

The spot was short. One of the great things about doing video on the web is that you’re not limited to exactly 30 seconds. You can do 15 seconds, you can do 18 seconds, you can even do 35 seconds. As long as you get your message across, that’s what’s important.

You only have 3 – 7 seconds to capture their attention. So if you don’t capture their attention in the first 7 seconds, it’s very easy for them to move on to the next video or website.

The next example is the Unscripted Interview or Documentary style video. The owner or business representative is interviewed by the video producer about the company. You want to avoid making these video pure sales pitches. When people do a web search for information, they are not looking for a sales pitch. So by offering helpful information in the video that relates to a Google search, the viewer will be more engaged.

We titled this video “How to Spot a Leaky Roof”

Jim Gregory – Owner – LR Gregory & Son – You know you need a new roof, if we find staining on the facia. We look at the drip edge, we try to determine what’s happening. Is the roof failing or is the gutter failing. You mainly want to look at the condition of the shingle. Is it curling, is it buckled? So we look at all the penetrations on the roof, the chimney flashing, soil stack, vents if it’s leaking around those.

LR Gregory & Son, family owned for 60 years. A company you can trust.

So after watching the video and discovering what to look for. You realize that you need to replace your roof. Your first call will be to LR Gregory & Son to get more information.

Product Demonstration

Zappos is producing about 400 videos a day across their entire product line. They discovered that by adding a video to the product listing, it increased sales of that item up to 35% over just having a photo or description.

This is “Louie” by Sam Edelman.

What’s great about this is that you can choose to pull this up and have it go a little bit higher or you can go ahead and pull the cuff down and it gives it a nice versatile look. Add some fun and subtle elegance to your look with the lovely Louie.

The next option is Humor – people love entertainment and this a way to include it.

At Warren Shell we work on all types of cars, red cars, silver cars, grey cars and any other car color you can think of. You never need an appointment. So come in and see us we’ll fix your car right, guaranteed.

That spot ran about 15 seconds and got it’s message across.

You customer is not going to come to you and say, I wish you had a video. You need to take the first step and give them a video.

Here’s edited version of the video that was shown at the

Video Marketing & Commerce Summit produced by bonfire labs.

There never was a community of people who got together and said, why don’t we have a theater, we need a theater. Where are the actors? That never happened in the history of the world. A few hams got together and said let’s get up on the stage and do something. In the caves, someone stood up and told a story. Nobody said. let’s have a story, until they’d heard a story.